Let me scan your brain and I can see if you’re a sell out? Brain images show personal values that people refuse to disavow—even when offered cash to do so—are processed differently than values that are willingly sold.
“Our experiment found that the realm of the sacred—whether it’s a strong religious belief, a national identity or a code of ethics—is a distinct cognitive process,” says Gregory Berns, director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University and lead author of the study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
Sacred values prompt greater activation of an area of the brain associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, the study shows, as opposed to the regions linked to processing of costs-versus-benefits.
The 1st study of its kind measuring the link between daily growth and sleep show the two are inextricably linked. Details are reported in the journal Sleep.
Specifically, growth spurts are tied to an increase in total daily hours of sleep as well as an increase in the number of daily sleep bouts, the time from the onset of sleep until awakening.
“Little is known about the biology of growth spurts,” says Michelle Lampl, the study’s lead author and professor of anthropology at Emory University.
An Emory University study published online on August 1 in Pediatrics suggests consuming Omega 3 fatty acids during pregnancy helps protects babies against illness during early infancy.
The randomized, placebo-controlled trial followed approximately 1,100 pregnant women and 900 infants in Mexico. Mothers took DHA supplements infants had fewer colds and shorter illnesses at one, three and six months of age.
“Prenatal Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation and Infant Morbidity: Randomized Controlled Trial,” is online today and will be published in the September 2011 issue of Pediatrics.
